Secure Your System
Internet Privacy
For ad aware go to http://www.lavasoftusa.com . This program will remove spyware from your system.

Another program that helps control spyware is
Spyware Blaster


Internet Security
Free forhome and personel use versions of firewall software, which allow you to control what accesses the Internet from your computer and what accesses your computer from the Internet.

Kerio

Zone Alarm
Computer and Internet Tips
Tip: Try right clicking and dragging the next time you want to move a file or icon and see the menu pop up offering you a choice of what you want to do with the file.
When you copy something from a CD, it's READ ONLY. Which means, files which need to be written to cannot be changed unless this attribute is turned off.
Antivirus Solutions
AVG Free Anti-virus edition is now available for all single home and non-commercial end users
Download Here
Tip: Looking at a webpage and see an interesting link. You want to check out the link but you don't want to leave the webpage. Hit (Ctrl)Control + N to open a new browser window. Or right click the link and click on open in new window.
Regarding Computer Viruses a quote
"He that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils."
Francis Bacon (1561-1626); English philosopher, essayist, statesman.
To keep your computer virus free keep your antivirus software updated.
Tip:
To stop your emails from automatically opening your messages in the preview pane and possibly running unsafe attachments, turn off the preview pane in your email program.
eg. Outlook Express: View>Layout>uncheck the box next to Preview Pane.
Some Cool tools from Panda Antivirus
To use System File Checker, perform the following steps:
1. Insert the Windows CD-ROM installation media.
2. From the Start menu, select Run.
3. Type >> sfc /scannow << then hit Enter to start the System File Checker process and check all core files. The utility will replace any missing core files and make sure all the files are up-to-date.
 
Panda ActiveScan - Free Online Virus Check


XP, Windows 2000, and Windows NT don't contain DOS, although XP can create DOS-bootable disks. All three OSs support the cmd.exe command shell, which lets you run NT-equivalent DOS commands. In XP, go to Start, Programs, Accessories Command Prompt, or click Start, Run, then type
>> cmd.exe <<
 
Are you running Windows XP and miss the start menu you have grown used to? To change the Start menu to the classic view. Right click the start button then left click Properties and choose "Classic Start Menu" then click ok.
Email your tips here
Main Computer Hardware Terms

CPU - Central Processing Unit
Expressed as GHz. eg. Pentium 4 2.4 GHz.
This is the main chip on your computer with two main manufacturers, AMD and Intel. (Intel Pentium and Celeron) and (AMD's Athlon and Duron) The Celeron being Intel's cheaper version of the Pentium and Duron being AMD's cheaper version of the Athlon CPU. There is usually no need to have the latest processor as you are paying extra for being the first, go for the second latest or third latest you could be saving yourself hundreds of dollars off the price of your CPU.
Small performance reduction big cost saving.

Hard Drive
Amount of Space in GB (Giga Bytes) 1 GB is roughly equivalent to an entire set of encyclopaedia.
A Hard Drive is basically the information store of your computer. The more GB's and the bigger the hard drive the cheaper the GB's are each. A 72000 hard drive is faster at accessing information and is recommended rather than the standard 54000 rpm hard drive.
Performance boost minimal extra cost

RAM - Random Access Memory
A set or sets of chips that hold recently or often accessed information for quick retrieval and use. Like the information you have on your desk it can be accessed and processed quickly. Information that is not stored in RAM and must be used by the processor first must be obtained from the hard drive then written to ram to be used by the processor. Like the information in your filing cabinet you must leave your desk and retrieve the information from your filing cabinet and put it on your desk before you can process it.
Unused services can be removed or stopped to save your ram usage.
Up to a point the more ram the better; the amount of ram in a computer can often be upgraded for significant performance boost. 256MB of RAM at least for a new computer.
Note: Recent changes to new ram have made it incompatible with older computers ensure when upgrading your ram you purchase the correct type for your computer.

Video Cards
You want to play games or video get a separate AGP (Advanced Graphics Port) video card. Many computers come out these days with an onboard video card {(onboard or integrated) means on the motherboard} that shares system ram when needed. This reduces the speed of your computer and dramatically reduces your computers ability to perform high quality graphic operations.
Big performance boost depending on the type of programs used and can be a large cost but doesn't have to be depending on your need and desire for high-resolution graphics.
Cheaper Video Cards roughly $200 you can run the latest games quite easily.
Latest Video Cards ($700 and up) you can run the latest games at high resolution.

Sound
Many new computers are coming out with onboard sound which is suitable for most applications. Although quite often the speakers that are sold with new systems are really not worth having so upgrade your speakers depending on how good you want them a small upgrade in speakers can mean a great performance boost.
Small cost big performance boost.

These are some basic hardware tips that we hope you have found useful. Please email or call us for more information.

 

Top